Terror on the Trails . . . Commandeered by Trucks
- Susan Heavilin
- 17 minutes ago
- 3 min read
What in the world has happened to our Common Sense?
I came across the first dump truck on Sweetwater Road. I was astonished by its size, speed and close proximity to the vehicles on the road. When he swung into the parking lot at Rohr Park Horse Arena, I followed.
I had to park before I could take the photo below. But you can see a truck leaving the loading site and a truck behind him (the truck I followed) returning from the dumping site. Load at Rohr Park, dump at Chula Vista Golf Course (Sweetwater and Willow). It was quite a process and in perfect sync to the loading/dumping procedure but not to the little bodies traveling on the trails the trucks had commandeered.
It was a beautiful day yesterday and a lot of people were out on our trails enjoying them. I'm referring to walking and horse riding trails. Serene, peaceful trails . . . normally.
Two photos of different youth riding their bikes and one photo of an unsuspecting trail walker being creeped by one very large dump truck | Click on the images to enlarge
I went out on the trails. And I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Big dump trucks full of dirt racing down the walking/horse riding trails. No cones out, no traffic control guys, no barriers between these big trucks and the public.
You can see from the photo above with all the dust that they weren't traveling 5mph. There were kids on bikes and walkers everywhere.
Click on the images to enlarge
These trucks are big and have limited visibility to the area around them. It was not a careful drive through the park but a full-on race. People had to avoid the trucks, not the other way around.
Then the trucks would jump on the roads and haul a** to the dump site, the golf course area on the corner of Sweetwater Road and Willow Road (Bridge). And then race back to the horse arena area in Rohr Park to load up more dirt.
Click on the image to enlarge
I encountered them on Sweetwater Road and Bonita Road . . . not exactly following the speed limit. I could not tell if they had the covers over the dirt to keep it from blowing out on the roads.
Do I sound concerned? You betcha! It should have been better (and more safely) organized.
When I was nine years old, my dad was T-boned in an intersection by a full dump truck running the light. Luckily my dad was in a Buick Electra (a huge car) as it was rammed the better part of a half block. The resulting car ended up the size of a Volkswagen Bug. My dad ended up in the hospital with all his ribs broken. He was fortunate. My doll was found in the trunk, filthy dirty with her eyes crushed in her skull.
These trucks can be powerful and deadly weapons when driven too fast, too carelessly . . . in areas not designed for them to travel.
Truck entering the newly-widened horse trail and walkers everywhere | Click on the images to enlarge
Here's the dumping area, not any safer. That truck is entering a horse trail near Sweetwater and Willow. I have ridden my horse on that trail many times. It was a sweet little entrance trail and has been widened for the trucks to use. They pretty much destroyed its ambiance.
Truck dumping dirt, crossing the golf course pathway with golfers everywhere and exiting the skinny little horse trail | Click on the images to enlarge
The trucks are creating havoc at this dumping site, too. You can see two golf carts in the middle photo above. And the truck leaving the site? Imagine a surprised horse encountering that huge, scary monster and the Mr. Toad's Wild Ride that would ensue. No traffic control ANYWHERE.
PS. I spoke to the driver of that huge CAT I wrote about previously. He was loading the trucks with the dirt. I tried to gently impress upon him the importance of moving the CAT away from the horse arena and its negative effects on the horses. He was not having any of it. No empathy whatsoever. The trailer had to get in to pick the CAT up. I explained all the other places it could be parked for pickup (I coordinate this all the time) and it fell on deaf ears.
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